The Three Tools of Death
|next = }} Alice Armstrong has been treated by electroshock therapy for memory loss and depression after she accidentally killed her mother. When her father is murdered and a rope, gun and knife are left behind, Magnus the chauffeur is suspected together with Peter, Armstrong's secretary, whom Alice loves. The truth of a father in debt leads Father Brown to another conclusion about the deaths. Synopsis Sir Aaron Armstrong painfully watches his daughter Alice undergo brutal electroshock therapy. The therapy is an attempt to treat Alice's memory loss and depression which stem from the very recent death of her mother at Alice's hand whilst the pair were out hunting. Alice's shotgun was determined to have been faulty, but she still remains beset by guilt. Unable to witness his daughter in pain, Sir Aaron storms off only to be accosted by loan shark Eddie Monk who warns Sir Aaron that he could be soon joining his wife if he doesn't pay his debts. At the funeral of Alice's mother, Eddie is also present and warns Jim Magnus, Sir Aaron's chauffeur, that he is visiting Jim's mother the next day. Father Brown notices the marks on Alice's temple and comments his disgust for the use of such barbaric treatments. Mrs McCarthy offers her assistance to Sir Aaron, who also invites Father Brown to join them at the family home of Upper Court. At Upper Court, Father Brown meets up with Mrs McCarthy (the latter having hitched a lift from Sid) and find a visibly shaken and muddied Sir Aaron emerge from the gardens, having had another run in with Eddie. Sir Aaron's private secretary, Peter Royce, voices his concerns for Alice's health and urges him not to put Alice through further treatment. Sir Aaron realises that Peter has fallen for Alice and promptly fires him. He goes to check on Alice, she resents her father for allowing her to be put through such torture. The next morning, Peter scoffs at Father Brown's attempts to help Alice before leaving. Father Brown, then hears Alice attempting to destroy the shotgun, and she refuses his help to try and remember what actually happened. On his way back to his seat, Father Brown discovers Sir Aaron's body hidden in a bush with his hands bound. Upon Inspector Sullivan's arrival, Father Brown immediately points out that Sir Aaron was likely pushed out of the window of his study, citing the disturbance in the gravel, and his body was hidden in the bush. An investigation into the study reveals an empty safe, as well as a gun on the floor. Sullivan immediately suspects Jim as he was seen driving away from the house in Sir Aaron's car that night. Peter returns to the house upon hearing the news and Mrs McCarthy elects to stay with Alice whilst Father Brown cycles down to the police station to have his statement taken. On his way there, Eddie runs Father Brown off the road, causing his bike Bucephalus to be wrecked. Eddie threatens Father Brown to keep quiet, but the priest has quickly determined that Eddie is innocent and terrified of being accused of murder. Father Brown appeals to Eddie's Catholic faith to seek confession, he confesses to intimidating Sir Aaron - revealing that Sir Aaron was indebted to many people - and that he went to visit Jim's mother. He reveals that Jim happened to arrive and pay the debt off in full. Feeling guilty, Eddie returns a rocking horse to a family that he had taken it from. Upon reaching Kembleford, Father Brown sees Jim's mother and urges her to get Jim to meet him at a barn behind the pub at 8pm to seek his religious confession, Inspector Sullivan however overhears this. Father Brown goes to see Alice to provide some compassionate (rather than spiritual) assistance. Alice remains steadfast in not wanting to remember what exactly happened, for fear of possibly finding out if she deliberately shot her mother. He also finds the ashes of a recent fire, amongst the remains, he finds several silver coins, that have been transformed into buttons. At the barn, Jim reveals that Sir Aaron allowed him to take the car to go see his mother, and discovered an envelope of money left for him on the seat. He suspects Alice due to her hatred of her medical treatments. Before he can explain to Father Brown what the buttons are, the police arrive and arrest Jim. Back at Upper Court, Father Brown brings up the buttons and Alice recalls that they belonged on Peter's blazer, which he was wearing the night before. Sullivan immediately suspects Peter of destroying evidence and arrests him on suspicion of murder. The next morning, Alice reveals that she found her father tied up but drunk in his study, he refused to talk about it there and then and told her to leave. After heading up to the study, Father Brown realises Peter tied Sir Aaron up with rope to the radiator, not to kill him, but restrain him. He then notices chipped paint on a beam and realises that the gun was Sir Aaron's. He then realises that Sir Aaron was trying to kill himself, Peter intervened and prevented his death from hanging, or shooting himself, tying him up to the radiator to stop him making further attempts. Father Brown then goes to see Peter and reveals to Sullivan what he has discovered. After tying Sir Aaron up, he went to get a bottle of alcohol to keep him awake to keep an eye on Sir Aaron. When he got back he saw Alice leave his study, and found Sir Aaron dead outside the window. He hid his body and burned the suicide note to protect Alice from assigning herself the blame for Sir Aaron's death. Realising that Alice now knows that she effectively let her father have the opportunity to kill himself, Father Brown and Sid race back to the house. They find Alice's suicide note and her body in the garden's lake. Sid jumps in to rescue her and they manage to revive her. The near death experience triggers her to remember that she didn't point her shotgun at her mother, the weapon malfunctioned and she was killed by the blast from the explosion caused by the malfunction. The next day, Alice feels relief that she is free from the burden of self-guilt for her mother's death, but still feels guilt for her father's death. Father Brown points out to her that if she hadn't untied him, Sir Aaron would have merely attempted suicide some other time. Peter reveals he transferred the estate to Alice shortly before his death. He selflessly attempted to kill himself to take all of his debts with him to his grave, leaving Alice financially safe. A relieved Alice thanks Father Brown for his help. Sid promptly arrives and presents Father Brown with a repaired Bucephalus and the former challenges the priest to a race back to Kembleford.